“We are pleased to conclude the sale of EntrustRx, an important step in our plans to monetize non-core assets as part of our broader turnaround efforts,” Fred’s Interim CEO Joe Anto said in a statement Monday morning. “The cash proceeds will allow us to pay down a significant portion of our debt and also be used for general corporate purposes.”

There’s been some speculation CVS, Walgreens Boots Alliance and the company that will be created once Rite Aid and Albertsons complete their merger could be interested in some of Fred’s properties. Aside from selling its specialty pharmacy business, Anto said a month ago executives are planning to sell “portions of our vast real estate portfolio."

Anto replaced Michael Bloom, who resigned in April as CEO to “pursue other interests.” Shortly after Bloom became CEO in late August of 2016, he began to shed the company’s past as “Fred’s Super Dollar” to focus on the faster-growing industry of personal healthcare, hiring new executives and investing heavily in both retail pharmacy and specialty pharmacy.

But Fred’s was unable to escalate its shift to healthcare when a deal to buy hundreds of Rite Aid stores ended abruptly last year. An attempt by Walgreens Boots Alliance to buy Rite Aid and satisfy the Federal Trade Commission by selling 865 Rite Aid stores to Fred’s was unable to pass regulatory muster. Walgreens instead bought just 2,186 of the more than 4,500 Rite Aids, turning Rite Aid into a multi-regional drugstore chain and preventing Fred’s from buying hundreds of drugstores all at once.

It's unclear exactly what Fred's will sell next. The Memphis-based company operates about 600 general merchandise and pharmacy stores, including 12 franchised locations.

I've written about health care for three decades, starting from my native Iowa where I covered the presidential campaign bus rides of Bill and Hillary Clinton through the Hawkeye state talking health reform and the economy. I have covered the rise, fall and rise again of hea...